Porous body for fuel cell

ABSTRACT

A porous body for a fuel cell is interposed between a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and a bipolar plate to form a gas channel through which a reactant gas flows in a predetermined direction, the porous body including: a main body disposed to contact the bipolar plate; and a plurality of ribs each including a land portion disposed to contact the MEA and a connecting portion connecting the land portion to the main body, in which an area of the land portion is gradually narrowed from an upstream part to a downstream part of the gas channel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0173036, filed on Dec. 16, 2016,with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a porous body for a fuel cell.

BACKGROUND

A fuel cell includes unit cells that can produce electrical energythrough an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The fuelcell is designed to have bipolar plates attached to both surfaces of amembrane electrode assembly (MEA), respectively. A bipolar plateincludes a gas channel supplying reactant gases such as hydrogen andoxygen to the MEA and a cooling channel allowing a coolant to circulate.

The amount of water distributed in the MEA is generally increased froman upstream part to a downstream part of the gas channel of the bipolarplate. Thus, the MEA becomes dry in the upstream part of the gaschannel, and becomes wet in the downstream part of the gas channel.

When the MEA becomes dry or wet compared to an appropriate level ofhumidity, the speed of the reactant gases passing through the MEA may bedecreased, and thus performance of the fuel cell may be degraded and anelectrolyte membrane of the MEA may be damaged to cause a reduction indurability. Therefore, in order to improve the performance anddurability of the fuel cell, an appropriate amount of water should bedistributed uniformly over an entire region of the MEA. However, aconventional fuel cell involves a problem in that it is not designed touniformly distribute the appropriate amount of water to the MEA.

Further, the gas channel of the bipolar plate may be designed todecrease resistance near a supply manifold and an exhaust manifold forsmooth supply and exhaust of the reactant gases. However, a conventionalfuel cell involves a problem in that it is not designed to easily adjustresistance in the channels of the bipolar plate according to regions ofthe bipolar plate.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentionedproblems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by theprior art are maintained intact.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a porous body for a fuelcell having a novel structure for uniformly distributing an appropriateamount of water to a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) of the fuel cell.

An aspect of the present disclosure also provides a porous body for afuel cell having a novel structure for easily adjusting resistanceacross a gas channel according to sections of the gas channel.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a porous body for afuel cell, which is interposed between an MEA and a bipolar plate toform a gas channel through which a reactant gas flows in a predetermineddirection, includes: a main body disposed to contact the bipolar plate;and a plurality of ribs each including a land portion disposed tocontact the MEA and a connecting portion connecting the land portion tothe main body, wherein an area of the land portion is gradually narrowedfrom an upstream part to a downstream part of the gas channel.

The main body may include a plurality of first holes perforated atpredetermined intervals, and the connecting portion of each of theplurality of ribs may extend from an inner surface of each of theplurality of first holes to be connected to the inner surface of each ofthe plurality of first holes.

The sum of an area of the land portion and an area of the connectingportion may be the same as an area of each of the first holes.

The connecting portion may be inclined at a predetermined angle ofinclination with respect to a direction of gas flow, and the angle ofinclination may be increased from the upstream part of the gas channelto the downstream part thereof.

The plurality of ribs may be classified into a plurality of first ribslocated in the upstream part of the gas channel and a plurality ofsecond ribs located below the plurality of first ribs in the downstreampart of the gas channel. Each of the plurality of first ribs may includea first land portion disposed to contact the MEA and a first connectingportion connecting the first land portion to the main body, and each ofthe plurality of second ribs may include a second land portion disposedto contact the MEA and having an area narrower than that of the firstland portion and a second connecting portion connecting the second landportion to the main body.

Each of the plurality of second ribs may include a second holeperforated in the second land portion.

A direction of gas flow may be parallel to a direction of gravity, thefirst connecting portion may be inclined in a direction opposing thedirection of gravity as the first connecting portion extends from themain body to the first land portion, and the second connecting portionmay be inclined in a direction toward the direction of gravity as thesecond connecting portion extends from the main body to the second landportion.

A gas diffusion layer may be attached to the MEA, and the porous bodymay be interposed between the gas diffusion layer and the bipolar plate.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a porous body fora fuel cell, which is interposed between an MEA and a bipolar plate toform a gas channel through which a reactant gas flows in a predetermineddirection, includes: a main body disposed to contact the bipolar plate;and a plurality of ribs each including a land portion disposed tocontact the MEA and a connecting portion connecting the land portion tothe main body, wherein the gas channel includes a power generationsection facing the MEA and a diffusion section located above the powergeneration section in an upstream part of the gas channel, and an areaof a land portion of a rib located in the diffusion section is narrowerin a direction of gas flow than an area of a land portion of a riblocated in the power generation section.

The gas channel may further include an exhaust section located below thepower generation section in a downstream part of the gas channel, and anarea of a land portion of a rib located in the exhaust section may benarrower in the direction of gas flow than the area of the land portionof the rib located in the power generation section.

The connecting portion may be inclined at a predetermined angle ofinclination with respect to the direction of gas flow, and an angle ofinclination may be higher in the ribs located in the diffusion sectionand the exhaust section than in the rib located in the power generationsection.

A gas diffusion layer may be attached to the MEA, and the porous bodymay be interposed between the gas diffusion layer and the bipolar plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, towhich a porous body for a fuel cell according to a first exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure is applied;

FIG. 2 illustrates a plan view of a bipolar plate illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the porous body for a fuel cellaccording to the first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a view explaining a method for forming ribsillustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, towhich a porous body for a fuel cell according to a second exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure is applied;

FIG. 6 illustrates a plan view of a location relationship between abipolar plate and a gas diffusion layer; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, towhich a porous body for a fuel cell according to a third exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure is applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Termsor words used in the present specification and claims should not beinterpreted as being limited to accepted meanings or dictionarydefinitions, but should be interpreted as having meanings and conceptsthat comply with the technical ideas of the present disclosure based onthe principle by which an inventor can appropriately define the conceptsof the terms or words in order to describe the invention in the bestway. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and theconfiguration of elements illustrated in the drawings are merelyconsidered to be preferred embodiments and do not represent all thetechnical ideas of the present disclosure, and thus it should beunderstood that various equivalents and modifications may exist at thetime of filing this application.

In the drawings, the shapes and dimensions of elements or portions ofthe elements may be exaggerated or schematically illustrated forconvenience of explanation and clarity. In addition, a detaileddescription of a related known function or configuration will be ruledout in order not to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, towhich a porous body for a fuel cell according to a first exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure is applied, and FIG. 2 illustratesa plan view of a bipolar plate illustrated in FIG. 1.

A porous body for a fuel cell (hereinafter referred to as the “porousbody 1”), according to the first exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure, may be designed to form a gas channel 40 through which areactant gas G flows in a predetermined direction. The reactant gas Gmay be air containing oxygen, but is not limited thereto. In otherwords, the reactant gas G may be hydrogen. As illustrated in FIG. 1, theporous body 1 may be interposed between a bipolar plate 2 and a gasdiffusion layer 3.

In general, a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) 4 includes anelectrolyte membrane (not shown), an anode attached to one surface ofthe electrolyte membrane, and a cathode 5 attached to the other surfaceof the electrolyte membrane.

The gas diffusion layer 3 may be disposed to be attached to the MEA 4.For example, the gas diffusion layer 3 may be disposed to be attached tothe outer surface of the cathode 5, as illustrated in FIG. 1, but is notlimited thereto. The gas diffusion layer 3 may be disposed to beattached to the outer surface of the anode. The gas diffusion layer 3may allow the reactant gas G supplied through the gas channel 40 to bediffused and delivered to the anode or the cathode 5 or deliverelectricity produced by the MEA 4 externally.

The bipolar plate 2 may be disposed to be attached to the outer surfaceof a main body 10, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The bipolar plate 2 mayseal a fuel cell stack to prevent the reactant gas G passing through thegas channel 40 and water W from being leaked externally. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the bipolar plate 2 includes a supply manifold 2 a supplyingthe reactant gas G from the outside to the gas channel 40, an exhaustmanifold 2 b discharging the reactant gas G having passed through thegas channel 40 and the water W externally, and a cooling channel (notshown) allowing a coolant for cooling the fuel cell to flowtherethrough. For example, when the air is transported using the gaschannel 40, the supply manifold 2 a may be an air supply manifold thatsupplies the outside air to the gas channel 40, and the exhaust manifold2 b may be an air exhaust manifold that discharges the air having passedthrough the gas channel 40 and the water W externally.

Hereinafter, a direction toward an upstream part 40 a of the gas channel40 refers to a direction toward the supply manifold 2 a, and a directiontoward a downstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40 refers to adirection toward the exhaust manifold 2 b.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the porous body for a fuel cellaccording to the first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure,and FIG. 4 illustrates a view explaining a method for forming ribsillustrated in FIG. 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the porous body 1 includes the main body 10forming a support frame of the porous body 1, and a plurality of ribs 20and 30 forming the gas channel 40. The main body 10 may have the form ofa plate having a predetermined area as illustrated in FIG. 3. The mainbody 10 may be formed of a metallic material, but is not limitedthereto. The main body 10 includes a plurality of first holes 12 atpredetermined intervals as illustrated in FIG. 3, but is not limitedthereto. The main body 10 may be disposed to be attached to the innersurface of the bipolar plate 2 facing the gas diffusion layer 3, asillustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, the first holes 12 may be closed by thebipolar plate 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the ribs 20 and 30 include land portions 22and 32 that are disposed to contact the gas diffusion layer 3, andconnecting portions 24 and 34 that connect the land portions 22 and 32to the main body 10, respectively.

The method for forming the ribs 20 and 30 is not particularly limited.For example, the ribs 20 and 30 may be formed by individually cuttingcut-out portions 14 of the main body 10, which are located atpredetermined intervals, in the form of “

” as illustrated in FIG. 4. The land portions 22 and 32 and theconnecting portions 24 and 34 may be formed by individually bending oneend portions of the ribs 20 and 30 connected to the main body 10 andcentral portions of the ribs 20 and 30. As the ribs 20 and 30 are formedin the above-described manner, the first holes 12 may be formed in thecut-out portions 14 of the main body 10, respectively. In addition, theribs 20 and 30 may be disposed at the intervals that are the same as theintervals of the first holes 12, and may have the same areas as those ofthe first holes 12. The ribs 20 and may be formed to allow the innersurfaces of one end portions of the first holes 12 toward the upstreampart 40 a of the gas channel 40 to be connected to the connectingportions 24 and 34, as illustrated in FIG. 3, but are not limitedthereto.

The land portions 22 and 32 may be disposed to contact the outer surfaceof the gas diffusion layer 3 facing the inner surface of the bipolarplate 2, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Since the land portions 22 and 32 aredisposed to be spaced apart from each other as illustrated in FIG. 1, acommunicating hole 50 may be formed between the land portions 22 and 32to allow the gas channel 40 and the gas diffusion layer 3 to communicatewith each other. Thus, the reactant gas G passing through the gaschannel 40 may be introduced to the gas diffusion layer 3 through thecommunicating hole 50, and the reactant gas G and the water W passingthrough the gas diffusion layer 3 may be introduced to the gas channel40 through the communicating hole 50.

The connecting portions 24 and 34 may be inclined between the main body10 and the gas diffusion layer 3 as illustrated in FIG. 1. For example,the connecting portions 24 and 34 may be inclined toward the downstreampart 40 b of the gas channel 40 as they are extended from the bipolarplate 2 to the gas diffusion layer 3. The connecting portions 24 and 34may allow the main body 10 and the gas diffusion layer 3 to be spacedapart from each other by a predetermined interval to form the gaschannel 40 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The gas channel 40 may transportthe reactant gas G or the water W, introduced from the supply manifold 2a or the gas diffusion layer 3 to the gas channel 40, to the exhaustmanifold 2 b.

In a conventional fuel cell including a bipolar plate in which a gaschannel is directly formed in one surface thereof, the amount of waterdistributed in an MEA is increased from an upstream part of the gaschannel to a downstream part thereof. In the conventional fuel cell, theMEA becomes dry in the upstream part of the gas channel, and becomes wetin the downstream part of the gas channel, and thus the performance anddurability of the fuel cell are degraded.

To solve this, the ribs 20 and 30 may have a novel structure in whichthe appropriate amount of water W is uniformly distributed over theentire region of the MEA 4. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, theribs 20 and 30 may be classified into first ribs 20 disposed in theupstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 and second ribs 30 disposedbelow the first ribs 20 in the downstream part 40 b of the gas channel40, and the first ribs 20 and the second ribs 30 may have differentstructures. Hereinafter, the land portion 22 and the connecting portion24 of the first rib 20 may be referred to as a first land portion 22 anda first connecting portion 24, respectively, and the land portion 32 andthe connecting portion 34 of the second rib 30 may be referred to as asecond land portion 32 and a second connecting portion 34, respectively.

The first ribs 20 and the second ribs 30 may be designed such that thewater W passing through the gas diffusion layer 3 in the upstream part40 a of the gas channel 40 is difficult to be introduced to the gaschannel 40, and the water W passing through the gas diffusion layer 3 inthe downstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40 is easy to be introducedto the gas channel 40.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the area of the second landportion 32 may be narrower than that of the first land portion 22 withrespect to a direction of gas flow. The area of the communicating hole50 may be relatively increased in the downstream part 40 b of the gaschannel 40 compared to in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40,as illustrated in FIG. 1.

When the water W meets the land portions 22 and 32 while passing throughthe gas diffusion layer 3, it may not be permeated through the landportions 22 and 32 to be directly introduced to the gas channel 40, butit may move along the land portions 22 and 32 to be introduced to thegas channel 40 through the communicating holes 50. Thus, a path of thewater W for flowing from the gas diffusion layer 3 to the gas channel 40may be relatively increased in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel40 where the first land portions 22 are located, compared to thedownstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40 where the second landportions 32 are located. Therefore, the water W passing through the gasdiffusion layer 3 in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 may berelatively difficult to be introduced to the gas channel 40 through thecommunicating holes 50, but the water W passing through the gasdiffusion layer 3 in the downstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40 maybe relatively easy to be introduced to the gas channel 40 through thecommunicating holes 50. Thus, the first ribs 20 and the second ribs 30may be designed to allow the water W to be trapped by the gas diffusionlayer 3 in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 and allow thewater W to be smoothly discharged from the gas diffusion layer 3 in thedownstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40, thereby allowing theappropriate amount of water W to be uniformly distributed over theentire region of the gas diffusion layer 3 and the MEA 4.

For example, each of the second ribs 30 may have a second hole 36perforated in the second land portion 32, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thesecond hole 36 may further increase the area of the communicating hole50 in the downstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40, thereby smoothlydischarging the water W from the gas diffusion layer 3 in the downstreampart 40 b of the gas channel 40. Meanwhile, in FIG. 3, in a state inwhich the area of the second land portion 32 is less than the area ofthe first land portion 22, the second hole 36 is additionally formed inthe second land portion 32, but the structure of the ribs is not limitedthereto. In other words, in a state in which the first and second landportions 22 and 32 are formed to have the same area, the second hole 36may be formed in the second land portion 32 so as to adjust the area ofthe second land portion 32 to be substantially less than the area of thefirst land portion 22.

For example, an angle θ1 of inclination of the first connecting portion24 with respect to the direction of flow of the reactant gas G may belower than an angle θ2 of inclination of the second connecting portion34 with respect to the direction of flow of the reactant gas G, asillustrated in FIG. 1.

A portion of the water W introduced to the gas channel 40 through thecommunicating hole 50 may meet the first connecting portion 24 or thesecond connecting portion 34 to be condensed on the first connectingportion 24 or the second connecting portion 34. A portion of thecondensed water W may be evaporated by heat of the fuel cell and may bereintroduced to the gas diffusion layer 3 through the communicating hole50. Since the angle of inclination of the first connecting portion islower than the angle of inclination of the second connecting portion 34,the area of the first connecting portion 24 may be greater than that ofthe second connecting portion 34. Thus, a greater amount of water W maybe condensed on the surface of the first connecting portion 24 comparedto the surface of the second connecting portion 34. Therefore, the firstconnecting portion 24 may allow the greater amount of water W to bereintroduced to the gas diffusion layer 3 compared to the secondconnecting portion 34, thereby more effectively preventing the MEA 4from being dried in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40.

Since the reactant gas G is introduced to the gas diffusion layer 3through the communicating holes 50 in the course of passing through thegas channel 40 to be converted into product water through oxidationreduction reaction, a flow rate of the reactant gas G may be reducedfrom the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 to the downstream part40 b thereof. However, the area of the communicating hole 50 is largerin the downstream part 40 b of the gas channel 40 than in the upstreampart 40 a of the gas channel 40. This design may compensate for adeviation in the flow rate of the reactant gas G, and thus the reactantgas G may be uniformly supplied to the gas diffusion layer 3 throughoutthe upstream part 40 a and the downstream part 40 b of the gas channel40.

Further, the ribs 20 and 30 may be classified into the first ribs 20 andthe second ribs 30 having different structures as described above, butare not limited thereto. For example, the ribs 20 and 30 may be designedsuch that the areas of the land portions 22 and 32 may be graduallynarrowed from the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 to thedownstream part 40 b thereof without distinguishing between the firstribs 20 and the second ribs 30. In this example, the angles ofinclination of the connecting portions 24 and 34 may be increased fromthe upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40 to the downstream part 40 bthereof, but are not limited thereto.

FIG. 5 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, towhich a porous body for a fuel cell according to a second exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure is applied.

A porous body for a fuel cell (hereinafter referred to as the “porousbody 6”), according to the second exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure, differs from the above-described porous body 1 with respectto the structure of ribs 120 and 130. The elements of the porous body 6,which are the same as those of the porous body 1, will be designated bythe same reference numerals in the drawings.

In general, a fuel cell is designed to allow the direction of flow ofthe reactant gas G and the direction of gravity to be parallel inconsideration of the fluidity of the reactant gas G. Thus, the fuel cellincluding the porous body 6 may also be designed to allow the directionof flow of the reactant gas G and the direction of gravity to beparallel. Based on this design, the first and second ribs 120 and 130may be provided to include first and second connecting portions 124 and134 that are inclined in opposite directions. The first ribs 120 may bedisposed in the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40, and the secondribs 130 may be disposed below the first ribs 120 in the downstream part40 b of the gas channel 40.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the first connecting portion 124 may beinclined in a direction opposing the direction of gravity as it isextended from the main body 10 to a first land portion 122. On thecontrary, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the second connecting portion 134may be inclined in a direction toward the direction of gravity as it isextended from the main body 10 to a second land portion 132. By formingthe first and second connecting portions 124 and 134 in theabove-described manner, the water W passing through the gas channel 40may easily be condensed on the first connecting portion 124 compared tothe second connecting portion 134. Therefore, the porous body 6 may moreeffectively prevent the MEA from being dried in the upstream part 40 aof the gas channel 40 in which the first ribs 120 are located.Meanwhile, one surface 124 a of the first connecting portion 124 onwhich the water W is condensed may be roughened using a sandblaster orthe like to allow the water W to be condensed more easily.

Meanwhile, the reference numeral “136” in FIG. 5 designates a secondhole of the second land portion 132.

FIG. 6 illustrates a plan view of a location relationship between abipolar plate and a gas diffusion layer, and FIG. 7 illustrates apartial cross-sectional view of a fuel cell, to which a porous body fora fuel cell according to a third exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 6, the gas diffusion layer 3 and the MEA 4 may have anarea less than that of the bipolar plate 2, and may be disposed to facea power generation region 2 c of the bipolar plate 2 located between thesupply manifold 2 a and the exhaust manifold 2 b. In addition, the powergeneration region 2 c of the bipolar plate 2 may be spaced apart fromeach of the supply manifold 2 a and the exhaust manifold 2 b by apredetermined interval. In addition, a diffusion region 2 d may be setin the interval between the supply manifold 2 a and the power generationregion 2 c, and an exhaust region 2 e may be set in the interval betweenthe power generation region 2 c and the exhaust manifold 2 b.

Referring to FIG. 7, a porous body for a fuel cell (hereinafter referredto as the “porous body 7”), according to the third exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure, may be interposed between the bipolar plate 2and the gas diffusion layer 3 to form the gas channel 40. As illustratedin FIG. 7, the gas channel 40 may be divided into a power generationsection 40 c located in a midstream part of the gas channel 40, adiffusion section 40 d located above the power generation section 40 cin the upstream part 40 a of the gas channel 40, and an exhaust section40 e located below the power generation section 40 c in the downstreampart 40 b of the gas channel 40.

The power generation section 40 c may be interposed between the gasdiffusion layer 3 and the power generation region 2 c, and may face eachof the gas diffusion layer 3 and the power generation region 2 c. Thediffusion section 40 d may be interposed between a rim member 8 and thediffusion region 2 d, and may face each of the rim member 8 and thediffusion region 2 d. The rim member 8 may be mounted on the edges ofthe gas diffusion layer 3 and the MEA 4 to fix the gas diffusion layer 3and the MEA 4. The exhaust section 40 e may be interposed between therim member 8 and the exhaust region 2 e, and may face each of the rimmember 8 and the exhaust region 2 e.

The porous body 7 may be designed to adjust the fluidity of the reactantgas G differently according to respective sections of the gas channel40.

For example, the porous body 7 may be designed such that the areas ofland portions 222 of ribs 220 located in the diffusion section 40 d andthe exhaust section 40 e may be narrower with respect to the directionof gas flow than those of land portions 232 of ribs 230 located in thepower generation section 40 c. To this end, the porous body 7 includes,as illustrated in FIG. 7, first ribs 220 located in the diffusionsection 40 d and the exhaust section 40 e, and second ribs 230 locatedin the power generation section 40 c.

Each of the first ribs 220 includes a first land portion 222 disposed tocontact the rim member 8, and a first connecting portion 224 connectingthe first land portion 222 to the main body 10. Each of the second ribs230 includes a second land portion 232 disposed to contact the gasdiffusion layer 3, and a second connecting portion 234 connecting thesecond land portion 232 to the main body 10.

The area of the first land portion 222 may be narrower with respect tothe direction of gas flow than that of the second land portion 232, asillustrated in FIG. 7. Thus, the reactant gas G introduced through thesupply manifold 2 a may be smoothly diffused in the diffusion section 40d of the gas channel 40 to be uniformly supplied to the power generationsection 40 c. In addition, the flow resistance of the reactant gas G maybe effectively decreased in the exhaust section 40 e of the gas channel40 to allow the reactant gas G to be smoothly discharged from theexhaust manifold 2 b.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, an angle θ1 of inclination of the firstconnecting portion 224 with respect to the direction of flow of thereactant gas G may be higher than an angle θ2 of inclination of thesecond connecting portion 234 with respect to the direction of flow ofthe reactant gas G. Thus, the reactant gas G introduced through thesupply manifold 2 a may be smoothly diffused in the diffusion section 40d of the gas channel 40 to be uniformly supplied to the power generationsection 40 c. In addition, the flow resistance of the reactant gas G maybe effectively decreased in the exhaust section 40 e of the gas channel40 to allow the reactant gas G to be smoothly discharged from theexhaust manifold 2 b.

Further, the porous body 1, 6, or 7 may be interposed between thebipolar plate 2 and the gas diffusion layer 3 as described above, but isnot limited thereto. For example, when the gas diffusion layer 3 isremoved, the porous body may be interposed between the bipolar plate 2and the anode or the cathode 5 of the MEA 4. In this example, the landportions may be disposed to contact the anode or the cathode 5.

As set forth above, the porous body for a fuel cell according to theexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may have the followingeffects:

First, the water may be uniformly distributed to the gas diffusion layerand the MEA to thereby prevent the MEA from being dried in the upstreampart of the gas channel and being wet in the downstream part of the gaschannel compared to an appropriate condition. Thus, the performance anddurability of the fuel cell may be improved.

Second, the flow resistance in the diffusion section and the exhaustsection of the gas channel may be selectively decreased to allow thereactant gas to be smoothly supplied and discharged.

Hereinabove, although the present disclosure has been described withreference to exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings, thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto, but may be variously modifiedand altered by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosurepertains without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure claimed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A porous body for a fuel cell, which isinterposed between a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and a bipolarplate to form a gas channel through which a reactant gas flows in apredetermined direction, the porous body comprising: a main bodydisposed to contact the bipolar plate; and a plurality of ribs eachincluding a land portion disposed to contact the MEA and a connectingportion connecting the land portion to the main body, wherein an area ofthe land portion is gradually narrowed from an upstream part to adownstream part of the gas channel.
 2. The porous body according toclaim 1, wherein the main body includes a plurality of first holesperforated at predetermined intervals, and the connecting portion ofeach of the plurality of ribs extends from an inner surface of each ofthe plurality of first holes to be connected to the inner surface ofeach of the plurality of first holes.
 3. The porous body according toclaim 2, wherein a sum of an area of the land portion and an area of theconnecting portion is the same as an area of each of the plurality offirst holes.
 4. The porous body according to claim 1, wherein theconnecting portion is inclined at a predetermined angle of inclinationwith respect to a direction of gas flow, and the angle of inclination isincreased from the upstream part of the gas channel to the downstreampart thereof.
 5. The porous body according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of ribs are classified into a plurality of first ribs locatedin the upstream part of the gas channel and a plurality of second ribslocated below the plurality of first ribs in the downstream part of thegas channel, each of the plurality of first ribs includes a first landportion disposed to contact the MEA and a first connecting portionconnecting the first land portion to the main body, and each of theplurality of second ribs includes a second land portion disposed tocontact the MEA and having an area narrower than that of the first landportion and a second connecting portion connecting the second landportion to the main body.
 6. The porous body according to claim 5,wherein each of the plurality of second ribs includes a second holeperforated in the second land portion.
 7. The porous body according toclaim 5, wherein a direction of gas flow is parallel to a direction ofgravity, the first connecting portion is inclined in a directionopposing the direction of gravity as the first connecting portionextends from the main body to the first land portion, and the secondconnecting portion is inclined in a direction toward the direction ofgravity as the second connecting portion extends from the main body tothe second land portion.
 8. The porous body according to claim 1,wherein a gas diffusion layer is attached to the MEA, and the porousbody is interposed between the gas diffusion layer and the bipolarplate.
 9. A porous body for a fuel cell, which is interposed between amembrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and a bipolar plate to form a gaschannel through which a reactant gas flows in a predetermined direction,the porous body comprising: a main body disposed to contact the bipolarplate; and a plurality of ribs each including a land portion disposed tocontact the MEA and a connecting portion connecting the land portion tothe main body, wherein the gas channel includes a power generationsection facing the MEA and a diffusion section located above the powergeneration section in an upstream part of the gas channel, and an areaof a land portion of a rib located in the diffusion section is narrowerin a direction of gas flow than an area of a land portion of a riblocated in the power generation section.
 10. The porous body accordingto claim 9, wherein the gas channel further includes an exhaust sectionlocated below the power generation section in a downstream part of thegas channel, and an area of a land portion of a rib located in theexhaust section is narrower in the direction of gas flow than the areaof the land portion of the rib located in the power generation section.11. The porous body according to claim 10, wherein the connectingportion is inclined at a predetermined angle of inclination with respectto the direction of gas flow, and an angle of inclination is higher inthe ribs located in the diffusion section and the exhaust section thanin the rib located in the power generation section.
 12. The porous bodyaccording to claim 9, wherein a gas diffusion layer is attached to theMEA, and the porous body is interposed between the gas diffusion layerand the bipolar plate.